Chapter 124: Not At All.

"Let’s go meet the government." Jaxir turned away from the auction house with Niri still holding his hand, while Nick followed behind him gloomily. They hadn’t made it far before a message appeared in front of Jaxir.

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Luecious Luscious: [Got the room. Head to the Copper Tankard on West Marr Street and tell the waitress you’re there for Beckon.]

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Jaxir closed the message and changed direction, bringing Nick and Niri with him without asking either one. Nick lasted less than a minute before starting again.

"You can’t just say you have 2 pages of the Mage Alchemic God’s Tome and then move on with your day." Nick stepped around Niri and stared at Jaxir while they walked. "Which 2 pages?"

Jaxir chuckled. "The one I already had contains the Grand Mana Potion formula, and the one I just got has the blood compression method I needed to make one of the ingredients." He glanced over at Nick before adding, "So instead of buying the method or hoping the copy will teach me enough after I somehow scrounge up enough money, I can just skip all of that."

Nick’s eyes widened. "Are you pulling my leg right now?" He stared at Jaxir for several seconds before his expression changed completely. "We’re going to be rich!"

Jaxir looked over at him. "We?"

Nick nodded with complete seriousness.

"Of course, we. You need someone for the logistics side of things, and you don’t have a wife, so clearly that’s going to be me." Nick looked Jaxir up and down before shaking his head. "Considering how you’re going, you’ll never have one anyway. I can’t sense an ounce of game in you."

Jaxir started laughing, but Nick kept going without missing a beat. "So I’ll handle that side, and honestly, we should probably just get married. I’ll be the hubby you always dreamed of. Who needs women anyway?"

Jaxir shook his head and kept laughing while Niri looked between the 2 of them with obvious confusion. The Copper Tankard came into view a few minutes later, and Jaxir’s expression changed slightly when he realized it looked like a normal tavern.

"This is where the government wants to meet?" Jaxir looked at the sign before walking inside. "I expected something a little more official."

Nick snorted. "You think the government has money in the game? Getting a private room at a place like this is probably already them showing you as much respect as they can afford."

"No tax dollars?" Jaxir asked.

"Fuck no. Passing a bill to add gaming to the yearly budget isn’t exactly going to fly amongst the common people. And the people rich enough to understand how important the game actually is don’t want the government butting in so they’re lobbying against it too. They’re getting fucked from two directions, thus why I keep telling you this is the worst faction to join."

A waitress approached after Jaxir gave Lue’s name and led the 3 of them toward the back of the tavern. She opened a thick wooden door and gestured them inside, only for Jaxir to stop when he recognized the people waiting around the table.

Elara was there.

The broad man with the sword and shield sat beside her, along with a black man Jaxir hadn’t paid much attention to during the mess outside the gates and an Asian woman with a bow resting against the back of her chair. Nick’s eyes widened the moment he saw Elara.

"You dragged me all the way here to see this brainless big-titted head case again?" Nick looked personally offended by the discovery.

Jaxir’s lip twitched while Elara, whose eyes had lit up the instant she saw Niri, stopped halfway out of her chair.

"You!" Elara pointed at Nick instead. "Do you wake up every morning and practice being disgusting, or does it come naturally?"

"See? Still brainless." Nick spread his hands while Elara started around the table, and Jaxir caught him by the shoulder before the argument could get any worse. The other 3 members of her group sighed together before helping separate the 2 of them.

Niri slipped away from Jaxir while everyone was distracted and went straight to Elara, who immediately forgot about Nick long enough to pinch both of her cheeks.

Niri complained and tried to pull her face away, while Elara asked if she’d eaten and somehow missed the fact that the little girl had spent most of the last few hours doing exactly that.

The broad man finally stepped forward and offered Jaxir his hand. "Dane. Tank Class."

"Jaxir." Jaxir shook his hand before looking toward the other 2.

The black man gave a small wave and introduced himself as Malik, while the woman with the bow nodded once.

"Mina." She glanced toward Nick and Elara, who were already starting another argument in the background. "They’re usually not this bad."

"They met this morning." Jaxir looked between them. "I think this might just be who they are now."

"YO! Jax, my man!"

Lue’s voice came from everywhere at once, and Jaxir looked around the room before finally noticing the flat disk sitting in the middle of the table. Light flickered across its surface before a projection rose above it, forming Lue’s head in the air.

Lue winked at him. "Miss me?"

Jaxir chuckled and took one of the open seats. "Where are the big wigs? Don’t tell me you’re the big wig."

"What? You don’t trust me and my judgment?" Lue looked offended while his projected head turned slightly. "I’m a big deal, you know. Tons of promotions and such. I’ll have the nuclear codes soon."

"The day they give you the nuclear codes is the day the moon falls out of the sky and you finally take that plug out of your ass."

Jaxir leaned back in his chair while Lue’s mouth fell open. Around the table, Elara’s group went completely silent.

"That’s supposed to be between just me and you!" Lue snapped before breaking into a grin. Dane stared at the projection while Malik slowly looked toward Jaxir, and Mina appeared to be reconsidering everything she knew about Lue.

Jaxir noticed their reactions and almost laughed again. Apparently the Lue they knew was a little different from the idiot who used to show up at his house uninvited and try to turn every evening into a party.

"That’s enough messing around, Lue."

A gruff voice came from somewhere beyond the projection, and Lue’s floating head shifted to the side as another face formed beside his. The newcomer was older, with a stern expression that didn’t change when he looked directly at Jaxir.

"Hello. I’m Commander Bayo." His gaze settled on Jaxir while Lue finally stopped grinning beside him. "Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Jaxir Chance."

Elara’s eyes went wide. "You’re Jaxir Chance?!"

Nick immediately leaned across the table. "It’s too late to start currying favor now, my boy is taken! He doesn’t even swing that way anymore!"

A choking noise came through the projection before Lue disappeared from view for a moment, his laughter turning into broken sputters somewhere off to the side.

Elara ignored Nick completely and stared at Jaxir with growing disbelief before her expression slowly twisted into a glare.

"You’re not handsome at all."